Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Dr. Kermit Gossnell is a Philidelphia-based abortion provider who stands accused of murdering seven newborn babies and one adult in his sceptic, vermin infested clinic. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Capital punishment in Pennsylvania is a two step process: the condemned is first stabbed through the back of his neck with a pair of scissors, whereupon his spinal column is severed. Oh, I‘m sorry, I got my facts confused– I just described how Dr. Gosnell murdered his young victims. The state of Pennsylvania (or any other state) would be precluded from executing people this way by the Eighth Amendment, as it prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment.” This prohibition has led the Supreme Court to place significant limits on how and why convicts may be put to death. In Wilkerson v. Utah, the Court declared that “punishments of torture,” such as disembowelment or burning at the stake, were constitutionally impermissible.

While these practices may be too gruesome to inflict on convicted murderers, they are par for the course when it comes to killing fetuses. In much of North America, stabbing, dismembering, or burning an unborn baby with saline all remain perfectly legal...

Would you like to keep up-to-date with the best of Vital Signs Blog? It's easily done.Just contact us right here and ask to receive our Weekly Top Ten, a free e-mail service sent out every weekend with Denny Hartford's selections for the most important posts of that week.